This is getting to be a chicken and egg argument.... I am all in favour of getting more youngsters (especially the under 25 years bracket) in my club, as I see that this is the only way the club can progress forward (it seems like we are a dying breed at present). So I am keen to know what we need to do to attract today's youngsters to the sport.
Therefore, I'll rephrase the question for the "younger members" of this list... Given most clubs have no youngsters to put on committees or make into instructors and, assuming that youngsters that turn up for their AEI flights are treated with respect (which I'm certain most clubs do), what is it specifically that a club can do to make life at the gliding club interesting enough (or "youth friendly") to convince young people to devote their time, energy and money to the sport? -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Nick Gilbert Sent: Thursday, 24 March 2005 11:44 PM To: Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia. Subject: Re: [Aus-soaring] mining past glider pilots That's easy... more young people. And the best way to do that (that I can think of) is to make them instructors when possible. Make a place on your committee for an under 30 year old. Make it their job to make the club more youth-friendly. Target the younger people as they approach the pie-cart. I have seen duty pilots berate people when they are surprised to learn that they may have to wait a while (you can't just waltz in here and expect...etc...). This does nothing for anybody & and is just the sort of thing that will cause someone to think, "the flight was great, but ......." This is a VERY important issue. Writing the sport off as 'Un-Cool", and blaming this as the reason for lack of youth is the easy way out. What option do we have? Wait until the younger people get old and loose their fashion sense? A DVD of the next JoeyGlide would be a good way for the GFA to spend some $$$'s and do something about this. Nick. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher H Thorpe" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "'Discussion of issues relating to Soaring in Australia.'" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 24, 2005 11:11 PM Subject: RE: [Aus-soaring] mining past glider pilots > Nick Gilbert wrote:- > > <<<< > > "Go to a parachute centre sometime. I visited one to have a chute repacked > outside Sydney one day. It was a Friday afternoon and there must have been > 60-70 people there, with very few people over 30. Can you imagine how > uncomfortable and out of place most (i will not say all. I know some > damned > funky older instructors) 50-70 year old gliding instructors would be in > that > > environment?" > > "It is not a matter of blame, bad attitude or ageism. It is simply lack of > common ground. The amount of time you spend not flying when you are > learning > > means that you need something other than the gliding to make you come > back. > Sitting around for 2 hours in between flights, talking about Lawn Bowls > (thanks for that one Peter) does not float my boat. Luckily I was born > into > the sport (thanks Dad)." > > "I don't care what anyone says. Gliding IS a cool sport. We just need to > make > life at the gliding club interesting enough to keep them coming back until > the sport hooks them." > >>>>> > > > Nick seems to be stating that young people need other young people around > them to provide "comfort" and "common ground", and so they do not feel > "out-of-place". > > While this maybe so, very few clubs can immediately provide this level of > support given the scarcity of young people in gliding at the moment. > > The question of the youngsters on this list is, therefore, what is it that > a > club can do that will make life at the gliding club interesting enough to > keep the younger people coming back? > > _______________________________________________ > Aus-soaring mailing list > [email protected] > To check or change subscription details, visit: > http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [email protected] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
